[tmo0hul]

Years ago I ran a farm that had 2 prototypes for the now $2,500 stall sifters. I should have taken photos and measurements so that I could build my own and cannot remember the motor and drive mechanisms. Has anyone built one of these? I can't afford to spend the $$ on a real one, but have a horse that grinds the poo around in his stall. Every day I wish I had one.

[FlashGordon]

These things are the best invention ever.

The barn I am at now has one they got from an estate sale. The BO has a neck injury that makes stall cleaning tough. Having done stalls the "normal way" for 15 years at least I was VERY skeptical but the manure shaker saves so. much. bedding. and keeps the manure pile to a minimum. It is awesome.

Supposedly they are built with a lawn mower motor, if that helps at all. We were saying the other day how they really can't be *that* hard to build, if you can weld and do the electrical stuff....

PS I can get measurements and take some pics of the one we have at our barn, if you want.

[tmo0hul]

FG - that would be great. The manufacturer's don't really post detailed photos for obvious reasons. There was a small motor - but I don't remember exactly how the circular revolutions were translated into horizontal movement of the tray.

As far as welding - our prototypes were made with wooden, not metal, frames. I really don't think it will be that difficult for someone who is a good mechanical type (not me).

[dotneko]

We don't have a motorized one, but we have two frames with
screens that we can lean against the stall wall at an angle
and manually sift. Cost about $40 to build.

Dot

[Robin@DHH]

There was an article in a local advertising magazine that Fleet Farm,
a regional farm supply store (among other things) publishes. In
the article was a picture of a machine the the horse farm owner's
neighbor had built for him. It had an electric motor and a rubber
"fan belt" type connector to a pulley on a shaft that caused a large
drum made of metal mesh to rotate. The drum was about the size
of a 55 gallon barrel and laid on its side and slightly tilted. Bedding
fell through the mesh and the waste dropped out the open lower end
of the drum. I called and asked the owner for plans but he didn't
have any and felt his neighbor wouldn't be able to supply them
either. He did say finding the right sort of mesh took a few tries
as did the selecting the speed of rotation of the drum. Also said
it would be different for different materials; one choice for sawdust,
different for shavings, etc.

[FlashGordon]

Dot your manual version sounds quite handy (and cheap!) also.

The one downside to the sifter at our barn is that the grate is really better suited to sawdust type bedding. We get our shavings from a mill in Canada and the type can vary by batch. The big fluffy shavings don't go through the machine all that well.

It really is a huge cost saver though, I spend $16 a month on bedding. Granted my boy is out 14 hours a day but still there is very little wasted bedding anymore.

[BestHorses]

Oh I've spent many hours while cleaning stalls thinking about how to build one! It seems like it shouldn't be too hard. (Yeah, right!) Someone out there HAS to have built one. I hope that person also has pics and posts them!!!! Maybe there will be a dealer at Equine Affaire and I can get a better look. I should drag DH along since he can weld and could figure out how to do it...

[Quin]

I agree about needing some trial and error. TrainerLady's DH tried building one for her barn a couple of years ago. As I recall, the main problem was that it was a little over-enthusiastic and would shake the poop into such tiny bits that it would all fall back into the stall with the bedding. I think he ran out of patience and gave up; I haven't seen it for at least a year.

[dotneko]

Yes
We only bed in sawdust. We use the screen for the
really bad stalls. It saves a LOT of bedding but it takes
extra time (not to mention work).
It is about 5 feet X 3 feet, with a frame of aluminum and
double screens.
Just lean it at an angle and shovel the dirty bedding against
it. The clean sawdust falls through and the manure/hay
rolls down the front. The amount of waste is very little.

Dot


Dot

[092556]

Check out this link, it is the manual for the Brockwood Stall Shi*fter®
http://www.brockwoodfarm.com/manual.html
If you go to "FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS" it tells you what motors are used.
In the pics, it looks like the motor has a gear reducer on it.
I'm going tinker with this, when I was a kid my favorite toy was my brothers Erector Set.

[Harry Hopkins]

I've built several of them and have plans drawn up.

[neilrlw]

You can get the plans to build a PoopShaker on line at www.poopshaker.com. This is an easy to build bedding sifter that works really well and is made from readily available parts.

[HungarianHippo]

I think (haven't built one, so not sure) that you want a design based on an "eccentric cam". This will produce a back and forth movement as it rotates. This simple video illustrates it (their example moves up/down, but you get the drift)